Community Corner
Lynwood Centennial Honors Black History Month Original Text
"If you've grown up in Lynwood, you no doubt have spent time at Henning Youth Center. But did you know how it was named?"
February 8, 2021
If you’ve grown up in Lynwood, you no doubt have spent time at Henning Youth Center. But did you know how it was named?
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Henning Youth Center is named after Robert Henning, Lynwood’s first black City Councilmember and first black Mayor. He was elected to the City Council in 1983 and selected as Mayor in 1986.
According to a Los Angeles Times article in January 1986:
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“Councilman John Byork, who was mayor and handed the gavel over to Henning, said the new mayor’s race should play second fiddle to the fact that Henning ‘is a gentleman and he is capable.’”
Before his life in politics, Mayor Henning was active in the Lynwood community. In 1976, he and a group of residents objected to a proposed ordinance requiring residents to move their trash cans from the alleys to the front streets for collection (they didn’t want trash cans in front of their homes). The council eventually dropped the issue.
Mayor Henning passed away in August 2015. The next month, the Lynwood City Council renamed the city’s youth center after him.
Thank you Mayor Henning for your contributions to the City of Lynwood.
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This press release was produced by the City of Lynwood. The views expressed are the author's own.